The Kremlin Armory is one of the oldest museums of Moscow,
established in 1808 and located in the Moscow Kremlin.

The
Kremlin Armory originated as the royal arsenal in 1508. Until the transfer of the
court to St Petersburg, the Armoury was in
charge of producing, purchasing and storing weapons, jewellery and various
household articles of the tsars. The finest Muscovite gunsmiths (the Vyatkin
brothers), jewellers (Gavrila Ovdokimov), and painters (Simon Ushakov) used to work
there. In 1640 and 1683, they opened the iconography and pictorial
studios, where the lessons on painting and handicrafts could be given. In 1700,
the Armoury was enriched with the treasures of the Golden and Silver chambers
of the Russian tsars.

In
1711, Peter the Great had the majority of
masters transferred to his new capital, St. Petersburg. 15 years later,
the Armoury was merged with the Fiscal Yard (the oldest depository of the royal
treasures), Stables Treasury (in charge
of storing harnesses and carriages) and the Master Chamber (in charge of sewing
clothes and bedclothes for the tsars). After that, the Armoury was renamed
into the Arms and Master Chamber. Alexander I of Russia nominated the Armoury as the first public museum in Moscow in 1806,
but the collections were not opened to the public until seven years later. The
current Armoury building was erected in 1844-1851 by the imperial architect Konstantin Ton. The director of
the museum from 1852 to 1870 was the writer Alexander Veltman.

After
the Bolshevik Revolution, the Armoury collection was enriched with treasures
taken from the Patriarch sacristy, Kremlin
cathedrals, monasteries and private collections. Some of these were sold abroad
on behest of Joseph Stalin in the 1930s. In
1960, the Armoury became the official museum of the Kremlin. Two years later,
the Patriarch chambers and the Cathedral of the Twelve Apostles were assigned
to the Armoury in order to house the Applied
Arts Museum.

Nowadays, the Kremlin
Armoury is home to the Russian Diamond Fund. It boasts unique
collections of the Russian, Western European and Eastern applied arts spanning the period
from the 5th to the 20th centuries. Some of the highlights include the Imperial Crown of Russia, Monomakh´s Cap, the ivory throne of Ivan the Terrible, and other regal
thrones and regalia; the Orloff Diamon; the helmet of Yaroslav II; the sabres of Kuzma Minin and Dmitri Pozharski; the 12-century necklaces from Ryazan; golden and silver tableware; articles, decorated
with enamel, niello and engravings; embroidery with gold and pearls;
imperial carriages, weapons, armour, and the Memory of Azov, Bouquet of Lilies Clock, Trans-Siberain Railway, Clover Leaf, Moscow Kremlin, Alexander Palace, Standart Yacht, Alexander III Equestrian, Romanov Tercentenary, Steel Military Fabergé Eggs. The ten Fabergé eggs
in the Armoury collection (all Imperial eggs) are the most Imperial eggs, and
the second-most overall Fabergé eggs, owned by a single owner.